The New Hawk Moth
by Hesturoth
Summary: Yet another take, a person I haven't seen as the New Hawk Moth (but apologies to anyone who has used this angle and I just didn't read it). Rated T for a well deserved character death.


**Author's Note:**

**I do not own any of these characters.**

* * *

Hawk Moth had done it. He'd gotten the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses. He was rather taken aback after seeing Adrien when Cat Noir had detransformed in his trap. He was even more surprised for some reason to see his son's classmate when Ladybug had detransformed in his other trap. Separating them had been the key to winning, and while Adrien hurled insults at the still masked villain, Hawk Moth paid no attention to him.

He walked over to Mayura. "Keep an eye on our... _guests_." Marinette was just sitting on the floor, quietly crying into her knees while Adrien continued to berate them. "Dark Wings, Fall." Gabriel turned and smirked at his son, who all of the sudden became very, very quiet. Adrien's eyes widened when the glass coffin opened, revealing his mother.

"Why?" Adrien screamed in disbelief.

"For you son. I'll prove it. Once I make this wish for your mother to come back, we can be a family again." Gabriel put on their miraculouses after taking his off. He flipped through the tablet that Marinette recognized as being the one Master Fu had used. The one he had translated. Gabriel said a few words and, in a flash of brilliant white light, became a cloud of purple smoke. "My dear Mayura! The power is awesome!" Mayura looked over to the cloud wondering how he was able to talk, but simply turned back to look at Adrien and Marinette.

Adrien had begun running full force into the glass of his trap, trying to break out. Mayura moved back towards where Gabriel had been standing but made sure to not get into the purple cloud... simply to protect it. "Go ahead, make your wish. I've got you covered."

"I wish for Adrien to have his mother back," a bellow cried out from the purple cloud. In a flash of light so bright, Adrien had to cover his eyes and fell to his knees mid-sprint. Mayrura turned around to see Gabriel on the floor as Emilie began to stir. Mayura collapsed next to Gabriel's lifeless body and cradled him as Emilie freed herself from the coffin.

"W-What happened?" Emilie asked, trying to get her bearings. She saw Adrien banging on the glass and her husband lying on the floor. A strange girl was next to Adrien in another sealed off room. She sprinted over and pressed the button, opening both traps. Adrien leapt out and hugged his mother tightly. Marinette finally stood up and walked to the edge of her enclosure.

"A-Adrien?"

"M-Marinette?"

"What happened?"

"Father was Hawk Moth. He used the wish and brought mother back."

Marinette looked over and saw Mayura rocking Gabriel's body in her arms. The trio started towards them and Mayura screamed at them, "Don't come near him! Don't you dare! It wasn't supposed to happen like this! He was supposed to be okay!"

They stopped short and Emilie recognized the Peacock Miraculous. "I don't know who you are, but you're in danger. That miraculous is broken."

"Not anymore. Gabriel had fixed it." Mayura was still shouting. "I... I can fix this!" She looked around and then down to Gabriel. "I can make a wish to bring him back. I can get him back!" She started taking off the earrings when Adrien tackled her. The earrings went flying and Marinette leapt up to catch them mid-air. She quickly put them on and called for her transformation.

"Give it up!" Ladybug shouted back. "Isn't it enough that one person has died trying to make a wish?"

Mayura looked up in shock at Ladybug. Adrien rolled around her and pulled the ring off of his father's finger, placing on his, and transforming. Mayura looked behind her at Cat Noir. She looked like a wild animal. She noticed the Moth Miraculous sitting on the table nearby. She leapt from her seated position on the floor and grabbed the Moth Miraculous before fleeing the basement.

Ladybug took off after her as Cat Noir went back over to his mother. "Are you okay, mom?"

She was staring at Gabriel and letting the tears fall freely down her cheeks. "Why'd he do it? Didn't he know he'd sacrifice himself trying to get me back?"

"I don't think he did."

Ladybug showed back up. "She got away."

* * *

Nathalie informed her apartment's management office that she was moving out immediately. She didn't want to take a chance that Adrien would figure out that she was Mayura. The longer she was gone from the mansion, the more likely it would be that he'd figure it out. She quickly paid the early termination fee and told the apartments they could keep anything they found in the apartment. She walked away with her luggage, refusing to leave a forwarding address for them.

At a cheap motel near the outskirts of Paris, where she signed in under an alias and paid cash, Nathalie pulled out the two miraculouses she had. Nooroo and Duusu appeared in front of her and took in their surroundings. "Wee!" Duusu said with exuberance.

Nooroo simply looked at Nathalie and stated, "I assume this means something didn't go the way Gabriel wanted."

Nathalie sniffed. "He's dead, Nooroo. The wish worked. It brought Emilie back, but it killed him in the process."

"The wish has a price, Nathalie. It's difficult to word the wish so that nothing bad happens to you or the ones you love."

"The only person I love is Gabriel. I'll do anything to bring him back."

Nooroo shook his head. He knew that look. "Even at the cost of your own life?"

"I don't care. He deserved to be happy with his family. He didn't deserve to die!"

"Yet he did. And you could die too if you try to make a wish."

"I don't care! I'm clever. I'm very clever. I know I can construct a better wish than Gabriel had made."

"Please don't. You're better off just turning our miraculouses over to the guardian."

"I AM NOT..." Nathalie paused to get her own emotions back under control. "I am not going to hand you over to that baker's daughter. You're mine now. And we're going to get Gabriel back."

Nooroo stiffened. "Yes master."

* * *

Adrien's eyes kept scanning his surroundings. If he was right, Nathalie would be hiding somewhere nearby, watching his father's funeral. And if his suspicions were correct, and she was hiding, then it meant she had to be Mayura. No one had seen her since everything happened that morning his mother returned. Even her apartment manager didn't know where she went.

Adrien played nervously with his ring when Marinette took his hand in hers. "I'm so sorry for you Adrien."

"Thank you, Marinette. But, I'm more nervous that Mayura might try to take advantage of his funeral to try to get our miraculouses again."

Marinette scanned the crowd that had attended to show their support for Adrien. Alya, sporting a new necklace, and Nino, sporting a new wristband, were on the other side of Adrien. Kagami, wearing a new choker, and Luka, wearing a new bracelet, were behind herself and Adrien. She leaned into Adrien a little and whispered, "I think we have more than enough backup if she were to try something right now."

"I guess you're right, but I really wish she hadn't gotten away. We were so close to having finished all of this fighting."

"I understand. We'll get her eventually. I promise."

Adrien leaned into her and smiled a little as a tear rolled down his cheek. She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek and continued just being there for him.

Marinette made sure not to say anything about what they had put on the tombstone. She knew it came from a place of pain. They certainly had enough money to replace it if they wanted to at some point in the future.

Marinette invited everyone back to the bakery after the services. As Adrien stepped a foot inside the limo, he scanned the area one last time and convinced himself that either Mayura wasn't Nathalie or that she was smart enough not to show up at the funeral. The drive to the bakery was silent. Marinette continued to hold Adrien's hand the entire trip back.

After everyone had left, including the crew burying the coffin, Mayura came down from the tree. She stood in front of the tombstone, enraged at the words written on it: _Husband, Father, Villain_.

* * *

Nathalie stayed away from trying to get Chloe back on her side. She stayed away from Lila also. She knew the more people that knew it really was her, the more likely it would be that she'd get found. Nathalie had even gone to great lengths to throw off the heroes from her trail. She had created a sentimonster that looked exactly like her, ordered it to go to the landfill, and die. The news had certainly bought it as the headlines read: Gabriel Agreste's lost assistant found dead. The sentimoster was buried in her place, with Adrien, Marinette, and Emilie in attendance as well. To drive home the point, she akumatized someone the evening of her funeral.

The new Hawk Moth was certainly more clever than Gabriel had been. She attacked sporadically. Just enough to make sure everyone knew she was still around, but not so much as to give away any clues to her location. She tried everything over the ensuing years, even sending an akuma back to try to take the miraculouses when they were still kids.

Ladybug and Cat Noir seemed to have learned their lesson also. They were inseparable. Vowing to never be caught apart, especially in battle. They knew that Mayura knew their identities... and likely the new Hawk Moth if Mayura wasn't the one using both of the miraculouses herself. They seemed to be above trying to attack friends and family. That, or they knew enraging the heroes would simply make them fight harder to try and find them. Adrien was sad about Nathalie's passing, but the idea that it was a ruse was tucked away in the back of his mind.

The new Hawk Moth had somehow won again after many years. Bunnix and Viperion had been incapacitated along with Ladybug and Cat Noir. Given they no longer had a time limit on their miraculouses, Nathalie knew she had to knock them out. The tenth anniversary of Gabriel's defeat had been the perfect place to strike. A sentimonster that could emit ether was hiding in the vents of the restaurant. After the team had closed the door so they could celebrate without being overheard, the sentimonster quietly filled the room with enough ether to knock out all the heroes... since they weren't transformed.

It collected all of the miraculouses and brought them to Mayura. She pulled the amok and it disappeared, leaving a white feather. After detransforming, she put on the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses, said the incantation, and turned into a purple cloud. Gabriel had been right. It was an awesome experience. She voiced her wish. "I wish for Gabriel Agreste to once again be the top fashion designer in the world."

Across town, Chloe's family was celebrating her mother's success at finally retaking the top spot away from Gabriel Brand, led by Marinette and Adrien currently. As she was mid-speech, she fell over dead to the horror of the crowd.

Nathalie reappeared from the purple cloud, completely sapped of energy. All she could do was lay there, next to Gabriel's tombstone. Her eyes widened in horror as she heard banging from below. She'd forgotten to exhume Gabriel first, thinking he would magically appear next to her instead of waking up in his coffin.

Tears flowed freely as she tried to scream for help. The words died in her throat. She was too weak. The banging below slowed and became harder to hear. After a few minutes, she couldn't hear anything.

To her dismay, and everyone's shock... well almost everyone's as Adrien didn't look surprised... the team of heroes showed up at Gabriel's grave after waking up and noticing their miraculouses were all missing. They gathered around Nathalie and picked up their miraculouses from around her feet. Tikki appeared in front of Marinette. "She needs to eat, or she's going to die. The wish uses most of the holder's energy. It's vital that she eat something as soon as possible after making the wish."

* * *

Nathalie often thought back on how delicious those cookies tasted that night. They were certainly better than anything she was given to eat in prison. Adrien came to visit... alone... about once a month. He said he still cared for her, but that she was where she belonged. She never told him that her wish had worked. She figured she deserved the nightmares she had every night of banging sounds coming from under the ground. However, she didn't want to burden Adrien with that truth. Everyone assumed Audrey Bourgeois had suffered an aneurism.

Adrien continued to press her to find out what she wished, but Nathalie would only ever answer that she wasn't as clever as she thought she was.


End file.
